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(No Mode li) E". W. MEADER.

INHALER.

Patented Feb. 15, 18.87.

V I/Vl/E/VTOR A rromvsy N. PETERS, Fhclu-Lilhognphur, Wahlnglon. 11c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN W. MEADER, OF LISBON, MAINE.

INHALER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,617, dated February 15, 1887.

Application filed April 17, 1886.

To all whom. it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN W. ll/IEADER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lisbon, in the county of Androscoggin and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Inhaler for Fluid Anaesthetics, of which the following is a specification.

In administering ether it is usually desira ble to bring about insensibility as quickly as possible, and in order to attain this end it is necessary that all the air which the patient breathes should be thoroughly saturated with ether vapor.

In the apparatus for administering ether now in use this saturation of the air with ether vapor is more or less imperfect and uncertain.

A principal object of my invention is to providea device which shall be in this respect more efficient and reliable.

Further objects of my invention are, first, to make as small as possible the suffocation of the patient, which is caused by preventing him from breathinga normal amount of air, or by compelling him to re-breathe his exhaled breath second, to save the ether which is unnecessarily consumed in present practice.

In carrying out my invention I provide for covering the patients nose and mouth apiece having the form of a hollow cone. I do not confine myself to a particular construction of this piece, but employ by preference such of the forms now in use as most completely shut out the outside air. The outer end of this cone is connected with the mixing-receptacle, which formsa leading feature of my invention, by a tube, and in a part of this tube are preferably placed the valves which permit the breath of the patient to pass out of the apparatus and the air charged with ether to passin.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation of a complete inhaler. Fig. 2 shows that part of the appara tus in which the ether and air are mixed separated from the other parts and covered with its cap. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 show alternative positions of the connecting-tube.

In these drawings, A is the outer case of the mixing-receptacle. B is a partition dividing this receptacle into two compartments. For

greater convenience of construction, A andB arepreferably made of cylindrical form.

P, P, and Pare apertures through the lower part of B, which permit the ether to flow freely from one compartment to the other. These apertures are most conveniently made in the manner shown in Fig. 1, where the partition B is attached to the bottom-of the outer case, A, by short projections, and is separated from it elsewhere by a narrow slit.

S is a piece of sponge or other porous material iu the interior compartment.

R is the cover of the inner compartment, B.

T is a tube connecting B with the mouthpiece M. I

J J arejoints in the tube T.

I is the inlet-valve; O, the outlet-valve.

0, Fig. 2, is the cover of the outer case, A.

In using my invention I remove the cover 0, Fig. 2, and place in the vessel A a sufiicient amount of ether. I next put in place the cover R and the parts shown in connection in Fig. 1. The instrument is then ready for use. As it is desirable to keep the receptacle A nearly horizontal, a certain amount of flexibility is necessary in the tube T. This I prefer to attain by introducing the joints J J. which permit the mouth-piece to be adjusted to the face of the patient in either a sitting or' a recumbent position. Asthe requirements of different departments of surgical and dental practice are somewhat different,an inhaler which had the most convenient form for.use in a particular department would have a particular place of attachment for the connectingpipe and the mixing-receptacle. The only essential feature is that the tube T should connect the upper part of the compartment B with the valves and mouth-piece.

In the diagram Fig. 3 the tube is shown entering at right angles through the walls of both the outer and the inner compartments. In Fig. 4 it enters at an acute angle. In Fig. 5 it passes directly upward through the bottom.

As will be seen from the drawings, Fig. 1, when the mouth-piece M is in close contact with the face all the air breathed by the patient must first bubble up through the ether in the receptacle A and afterward pass over In an inhaler, the combination of a mouthpiece, inlet and outlet valves, a mixing-recep- 15 tacle divided into two compartments which are connected at the bottom, and of which one is open at top to the outside air, while the other is closed at top, and a tube connecting said closed compartment with the inlct-valve, 20

all substantially as specified.

EDWIN W. MEADER.

\Vitnesses:

CHARLES E. NORTON, ANDREW J. HINKLEY. 

